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The Hill
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
How trust can boost the US-Mexico fight against narco finance
The U.S. Treasury Department's announcement that it is targeting three Mexican financial institutions for their alleged roles in laundering proceeds tied to synthetic opioid trafficking marks a turning point, not only in the U.S. financial offensive against fentanyl, but also in the future of U.S.-Mexico security cooperation. These sanctions, issued under the expanded authority of the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, are the first of their kind and they may herald a more focused approach to choking off the money that makes organized crime so profitable and powerful. But behind the headlines is a deeper truth: If we are serious about dismantling the financial networks of the cartels, we need more trust and more coordination between government agencies in both countries. Money laundering is not just a financial crime — it is the lifeblood of drug trafficking organizations. From fentanyl precursors purchased from China to illicit cash sent back through trade-based laundering schemes, the ability of criminal organizations to move, hide, and invest their profits is what allows them to survive. That is why the bilateral anti-money laundering relationship between the U.S. and Mexico has been, and must continue to be, a cornerstone of the fight against organized crime. Over the last 20 years, the two governments have built institutional linkages through the High-Level Security Dialogue and the North American Drug Dialogue, shared intelligence through joint task forces and cooperated on regulatory and supervisory alignment. Yet, revelations like this remind us that those channels have thus far been woefully insufficient to counter the power and ingenuity of the drug trafficking organizations. The trust deficit that often clouds U.S.-Mexico cooperation — rooted in concerns over corruption, impunity and sovereignty — must be addressed head-on. Since the tragic 1985 abduction and murder of Drug Enforcement Agency agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena, trust between U.S. and Mexican security agencies has been marred by suspicion and periodic breakdowns in cooperation. The aftermath of the Camarena affair exposed the deep entanglement of Mexican law enforcement with drug trafficking organizations, prompting a significant retrenchment in bilateral collaboration. In the decades since, while cooperation has resumed in fits and starts — such as during the Mérida Initiative period — longstanding fears over corruption, leaks and sovereignty have frequently undermined joint efforts. Put succinctly, U.S. agencies often question the integrity and competence of their counterparts in the Mexican government, while Mexican officials remain deeply wary of the motives behind U.S. security operations. Recent years have seen further deterioration, particularly following the 2020 arrest of former Mexican defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos in the U.S., which triggered a diplomatic backlash and led Mexico to pass legislation restricting foreign law enforcement operations on its soil. This cycle of mistrust has hindered intelligence-sharing, constrained operational coordination and ultimately allowed drug trafficking organizations to exploit jurisdictional and institutional divides. If both countries are to mount a successful and sustained fight against organized crime, rebuilding that trust must become a shared strategic priority. It is true that Mexico has made significant strides in recent years, particularly with the 2020 reforms to its financial intelligence framework and enhanced powers for the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera, but those reforms have not been fully implemented and there are still significant problems with compliance. Meanwhile, the U.S. has deployed an increasingly sophisticated array of financial tools, including the Global Magnitsky Act and Section 311 of the Patriot Act, to disrupt criminal finance globally. What's missing is a seamless partnership; one where intelligence is shared in real time, regulatory frameworks are interoperable and suspicious activity is pursued across borders with joint accountability. Examples from around the world show what's possible when financial cooperation is prioritized. The U.S.-United Arab Emirates Joint Task Force on Illicit Finance has led to seizures of millions of dollars linked to terrorist networks. Europol's collaboration with the Financial Intelligence Units of European Union member states has generated successful operations against transnational crime, from cyberfraud to human trafficking. Even in Latin America, the Tri-Border Area cooperation initiative among Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay has shown that coordinated anti-money-laundering efforts, when paired with law enforcement cooperation, can disrupt illicit flows in even the most complex regions. Mexico and the U.S. are connected not only by their economic integration, but by shared security challenges and a common interest in dismantling the financial networks that sustain organized crime. But disrupting cartel finance requires more than just sanctions — it demands trust. To build that trust, we must go beyond high-level declarations and invest in the institutional relationships that matter. That means enhancing vetting procedures to ensure the integrity of counterparts on both sides, expanding secondments and joint training programs between agencies and creating regular, structured interactions among investigators, prosecutors and regulators. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can also support this effort, offering new tools to detect suspicious financial patterns, track illicit flows across borders and flag anomalies in real time. Crucially though, we must also engage civil society — especially bar associations, law schools and the offices of state and federal attorneys general in both countries — to build a broader base of professional trust and legal cooperation. Only by deepening these networks and normalizing collaboration at every level can we create the resilient, binational ecosystem needed to fight financial crime and drug trafficking and protect lives on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Duncan Wood is CEO of Hurst International Consulting and former director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute.
Zawya
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
President Boakai Declares Thursday, June 26, As 'International Drugs Day'
The President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., has by Proclamation declared Thursday, June 26, 2025, as 'International Drugs Day' and is to be observed throughout the country as a Working Holiday. The Proclamation calls on all citizens; government ministries and agencies as well as international organizations concerned to join the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in executing appropriate programs befitting the occasion. According to a Foreign Ministry release, this year's International Day Against Drug Abuse and its illicit trafficking will be observed under the global theme: 'The Evidence is clear, invest in Prevention. Slogan. Break the Circle. Stop Organized Crime'. Drug abuse and its illicit trafficking have posed major problems to the human race and millions of people worldwide continue to be affected directly and indirectly. The Proclamation is in consonance with an Act of National Legislature which was adopted in 1999, creating the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) with the authority to combat the importation, illicit trafficking and use of dangerous drugs. The observance of the day is intended to create awareness of the devastating effects of illicit drugs on individuals and families and to mobilize communities and other stakeholders against the use of such substances. On December 7, 1987, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution 42/112, which set aside the 26th day of June of each year as International Day Against Illicit Trafficking of Drugs and other Substances of Abuse to be celebrated worldwide. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Liberia.
San Francisco Chronicle
11-06-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
NorCal man who sold pills to teen gets prison after fatal overdose
A Monterey County man was sentenced to eight years in prison for selling fentanyl-laced pills to a 15-year-old, leading to the minor's fatal overdose. Edward Tellez Solis, 27, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, distribution of fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California announced Monday. Tellez Solis, of Marina (Monterey County), used social media to advertise and sell drugs, including counterfeit oxycodone pills, known as M30 pills, that were laced with fentanyl, the attorney's office said. Prosecutors said Tellez Solis also sold cocaine, ecstasy, hydrocodone, marijuana and Xanax. Law enforcement said Tellez Solis used Snapchat and Telegram to reach customers. 'Edward Tellez Solis used social media as a superhighway to sell lethal drugs and line his pockets with the proceeds,' Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris said in a statement. On March 3, 2022, Tellez Solis offered to sell a 15-year-old more than a dozen M30 pills, prosecutors said, delivering at least nine of the pills to the teenager the next day. Prosecutors said Tellez Solis knew that the pills 'contained fentanyl or some other federally controlled substance.' The 15-year-old had an overdose and died after getting the M30 pills, the U.S. attorney's office said. Police searched Tellez Solis' car and found a 'stash of controlled substances,' as well as a loaded gun, three loaded magazines and 89 rounds of ammunition, prosecutors said. Law enforcement also found more than $17,000 in cash in Tellez Solis' car and nearly $100,000 in cash in his home, the attorney's office said. 'Today's sentencing marks a crucial step in bringing justice to the victim and a family devastated by the scourge of fentanyl,' Beris said. 'We will be relentless in our pursuit of unscrupulous drug dealers who distribute poison in our community.' On top of his prison time, Tellez Solis was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay nearly $30,000 to the family of the 15-year-old who fatally overdosed. 'While this sentence brings a measure of justice to the community for this crime, it can never undo the pain and devastation the defendant's reprehensible actions caused the victim's family,' United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian said in a statement.
Mint
07-06-2025
- Health
- Mint
Fentanyl crisis in the US: How is India helping out? FBI Director Kash Patel explains
FBI Director Kash Patel has recently talked about the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the United States and the way the Trump administration is trying to combat it. A former federal public defender, national security prosecutor, Patel has stood out as one of the leading loyalists of Donald Trump's administration as a senior official in both the Department of Justice and the Trump administration. In the podcast uploaded by the Joe Rogan Experience YouTube channel on June 6, Patel claimed that he recently contacted the Indian government and sought help regarding the crisis. His words included, 'I literally just got off the phone with the Indian government. I said, I need your help. This stuff's coming into your country, and then they're moving it from your country because India is not consuming fentanyl.' The fentanyl crisis is about a terrifying wave of overdose deaths sweeping the United States. It is mostly driven by illegally made fentanyl, an incredibly powerful synthetic opioid. Just tiny amounts, like a few grains of salt, can kill you. The worst part? People often don't even know they're taking it. Dealers secretly mix fentanyl into other drugs like heroin, cocaine, or fake pills made to look like prescription painkillers or ADHD meds bought online or on the street. Someone thinks they're taking one thing, but it's actually laced with poison. This has made accidental overdoses horrifyingly common. Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for adults under 50 in the US. The crisis is so bad that life-saving naloxone (Narcan) is now carried by many cops, families, and even schools. Public health campaigns, even by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) scream "One Pill Can Kill" because it has turned tragically true. Kash Patel claimed that Mexican cartels are shipping their fentanyl to India and using routes to bring it to the United States. "What they (Mexican cartels) are doing now to get cute is that they're shipping that stuff not straight to here. They're going to places like India, and I'm also doing operations in India, and they're having the Mexican cartels now make this fentanyl down in Mexico still. But, instead of going right up to the southern border and into America, they're flying it into Vancouver," Patel said in the Joe Rogan podcast. "Americans don't understand the depth and depravity of fentanyl. You don't hear about fentanyl deaths in India, China, England, Australia, New Zealand," he continued. Patel also explained the Indian government's role in the fentanyl crisis. 'I literally just got off the phone with the Indian government. I said I need your help, this stuff is coming in from your country, and then they are moving it from your country because India is not consuming fentanyl. No one's dying over there. I need you and your help, so my FBI is over there working with their heads of government law enforcement authorities.' "We're going to sanction them and we're going to arrest them where we can. This is now a global problem, and the reason why it's gotten so bad is because no one did anything for four years," the FBI chief claimed.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
DEA Houston warns of synthetic opioid hitting Houston and surrounding areas
The Brief DEA Houston warns of the synthetic opioid Nitazene, saying it's 25% more potent than fentanyl. DEA Houston says they have seen a major increase in overdoses and seizures in the last year. A mother who lost her son to fentanyl is advocating for change and shares her message for families. HOUSTON - The Houston field office for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is putting out a serious and stern warning about a synthetic drug called Nitazene that's leading to seizures and overdoses in teens and adults. What they're saying The DEA says Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery and Brazoria County have all been impacted by Nitazene, which is 25% more potent than fentanyl. Special Agent William Kimbell with the DEA says Nitazene, a killer synthetic drug, has been in our area since 2022. "In the last year, we've become more and more concerned because our number of seizures have gone up in between November and February of this year. We have had a 15% increase of overdoses from Nitazene in Houston," said Special Agent Kimbell. "Nitazene is a typical opioid. It suppresses your breathing, it suppresses your blood pressure, and your body is so suppressed, you can't breathe anymore." Special Agent Kimbell says the drug is impacting people in a wide age range. "We've seen overdoses now from the ages of 17 to 59, so really. If you are buying a pill from someone you don't know, or you are using a pill that you don't know where it came from, it could have Ntazene in it and it's extremely dangerous," said Special Agent Kimbell, "Its synthetic route is very hard to make, and you need lab experience, but we are seeing Nitazene that are made in China, and they are purchased online and smuggled into the US in parcels, and locally, we are seeing drug gangs take fentanyl and Nitazene and pressing it into a what looks like a prescription drug." Why you should care Special Agent Kimbell says Nitazene can be purchased online, using a smartphone. He says, sadly, that's how many kids are getting their hands on it. "We are seeing kids carry that – they can reach a drug dealer that is carrying this type of drug instantly," he said. "Within minutes you can tuck your kids in bed, and they can get on social media, and they can have that stuff delivered to their house." Local perspective Stephanie Roe, who lost her son Tucker at 19 to fentanyl in 2021, has a warning to families and raising awareness through Texas Against Fentanyl. "I watched this come into his life and be introduced as an adolescent, and he couldn't beat it. Ultimately, he used again after his treatment and that resulted in his death," said Roe," Nitazene are incredibly lethal. They have been found to be 20 times stronger than Fentanyl. Roe says it's important for families to talk to their kids and learn more about drug addiction, adding there is a real stigma that needs to be talked about. "The drug demographic is unlike anything we have seen before and these are highly addictive chemicals," Roe said," "You don't think it will happen to our child if you asked me if I would be someone who would lose a child" I would say no way, but the reality is there is no demographic here, its impacting so many people because there is a lack of education and awareness." The Source FOX 26 reporter Leslie DelasBour spoke with Special Agent William Kimbell of the Houston Drug Enforcement Agency and Stephanie Roe, who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose.
